Stevie Wonder calls for accessible technology

Musician Stevie Wonder has said technology companies should ensure their products are "more accessible" for blind users.

The celebrity said that he used as much technical equipment as he could to aid him in the tasks he performs every day.

Speaking to the BBC's technology programme Click, he said that companies should ensure that devices with touchscreens - such as iPods and Blackberries - should have adaptor attachments so that blind users could benefit.

He said: "Being more accessible is always a plus and I think really, for various companies that are working with this technology and making it exciting and accessible for people who can see, it would take very little to make it accessible to everyone. So I encourage all the manufacturers to do that.

He added that products should be made accessible as standard and that the ageing population would also need adaptive attachments.

His comments have been backed up by America's National Federation of the Blind.

The Federation said that a small amount of increased consideration while a product was in the design phase could make an enormouse impact to a disabled person.

As an example, microwaves have smooth buttons, but if they were replaced with protruding buttons then a blind person would be able to use one more easily.

Wonder said the situation now was much better than it had been twenty years' ago.

"I think just as having access to information, being able to read books, electronic brail, and digital information that are accessible has made things far easier for a blind person," he said.